End Of The Night

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Take the highway to the end of the night
End of the night, end of the night
Take a journey to the bright midnight
End of the night, end of the night

Realms of bliss, realms of light
Some are born to sweet delight
Some are born to sweet delight
Some are born to the endless night
End of the night, end of the night
End of the night, end of the night

Realms of bliss, realms of light
Some are born to sweet delight
Some are born to sweet delight
Some are born to the endless night
End of the night, end of the night
End of the night, end of the night

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

According to Ray the title comes from Ferdinand Celine's book 'Journey To The End Of the Night'.
Morrison read Celine as a young man.

Michael McClure remembered once tackling Jim over the lyric when he said 'that's Blake man!'.
Morrison replied 'I know but nobody has busted me yet'.
Which I like because it shows Morrison was full of humour in his songwriting. he knew how to take a poke at his audience by writing something simple that he knew would confound them for years.
5-1 a perfect example.

The music to End Of The Night is quite chilling and reminds me of 60s horror flicks. There have been times when I felt a cold sweat crawl up my back listening to this song.
Who knows what might have been done with it had it been recorded in an 8 track studio instead of a 4.
Nonetheless even though it is short and sweet it stands as one of The Doors most powerful statements.

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

End Of The Night was nicked lyrically from William Blake’s Auguries of Innocence.
This famous poem begins.

To see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.


The last section of the Blake poem was where Jim nicked some lines from.

William Blake - Auguries of Innocence

The winner's shout, the loser's curse,
Dance before dead England's hearse.

Every night and every morn
Some to misery are born,
Every morn and every night
Some are born to sweet delight.

Some are born to sweet delight,
Some are born to endless night.

We are led to believe a lie
When we see not thro' the eye,
Which was born in a night to perish in a night,
When the soul slept in beams of light.

God appears, and God is light,
To those poor souls who dwell in night;
But does a human form display
To those who dwell in realms of day.

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

The Doors Demos: "End Of The Night"

The demo version with Ray's brothers is interesting in that it does not feature Robby on guitar and a harp replaces some of the guitar.
Ray's plinky plonk piano is really strange but lacks the power of the LP version. John is barely noticable.

Morrison uses a different lyric to start the song
His phrasing is different and the vocal lacks the power it would have a year later.

I took a trip to the end of the night
End of the night, end of the night
I took journey to the bright midnight
End of the night, end of the night

"That's my brother Jim on harp. What a sweet sounding cat.'
Ray Manzarek

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Ray Manzarek handwritten lyric & music.



"End of the Night" is essentially a psychedelic track, notated in the key of E Minor, with Jim Morrison's vocal range spanning from D4 to G5. It is also performed throughout in 4/4 time.
The song was written in the band's early days, before guitarist Robby Krieger had joined the group.
It was recorded in 1965 by the band in an attempt to land a deal with Aura Records; however the band failed to get signed.
In 1966, when they were signed to Elektra Records, the song was recorded for their self-titled debut album.
In the album recording, Krieger provided a distinct slide guitar, tuned in a minor tuning. As Krieger himself explained, "I'd try different tunings until one worked"

Although the songwriting credit was given to all four members of the Doors, the lyrics were written by lead singer Jim Morrison.
Its title is derived from the 1932 French novel Journey to the End of the Night by Louis-Ferdinand Celine.
The line "Some are born to sweet delight; some are born to endless night" are lifted from a William Blake poem Auguries of Innocence, written in 1803 and published in 1863.

The song was chosen as the B-side to the album's first single, "Break On Through (To the Other Side)" and was released in January 1967.
The single, however, failed to become a success and only peaked at number 126 in the U.S.
Reviewing the "Break on Through" single, Cash Box said that "End of the Night" is a "bluesy shuffler that also merits watching."

Anon Wikipedia